A former restaurant owner from North Lincolnshire is set to represent her country in an elite European sporting competition after swapping the kitchen for the gym.

Joy Mineo, 50, ran La Gondola restaurant in Messingham for around 12 years.

But after joining a gym as a way of keeping fit, she discovered the sport of powerlifting and less than a year after her first competition, she is now preparing to jet off to Sweden to take part in the European Masters.

Joy, who lives in Brigg, said: "I only started competing last April and I qualified for the European Masters in December.

"I started going to the gym to keep fit and started messing with the weights and it was fun and a bit of a challenge.